


Pictures Taken Seconds Before Disaster

by Ange_de_la_Mort



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Battle Couple, Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24081409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ange_de_la_Mort/pseuds/Ange_de_la_Mort
Summary: Today, I (52m) got stuck on an island that can only be reached via golden Chocobo, because it chose to run away from hungry monsters. Currently trying to not get eaten by said hungry monsters. With a chain smoker as the only company. FML.
Relationships: Cid Highwind/Vincent Valentine
Kudos: 51





	Pictures Taken Seconds Before Disaster

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the Cid/Vin zine Gunpowder & Cigarettes.  
> -> https://twitter.com/ValenwindZine
> 
> I had a lot of fun with this.

The wound doesn't seem to be too deep, but it still bleeds quite a lot. Vincent sighs and looks at the temporary bandage that Cid has wrapped around his upper arm and shakes his head at himself. At the two of them. 

They hadn't been very clever, hadn't prepared adequately for this mission. But then again, who could have guessed that the Chocobo would run away and they're trapped in here now? In a cavern in the middle of nowhere? 

"Fucking Chocobo," Cid mutters to himself now and trudges up and down, spear in hand and a cigarette between his lips. "Can't believe Cloud bred a fucking coward."

"Don't blame him," Vincent says, stretching his legs. "Loyalty is not an inborn trait for humans, so why should beasts automatically be better?"

"Takes one to know one, right?" Cid murmurs so quietly that he surely thinks Vincent can't hear him. 

Of course he does anyway. And grinds his teeth, because even though Cid is right, of course, even though Vincent is hardly more than a beast, a monster, similar to the ones out there, who cower drooling for a taste of meat and blood in front of the cave entrance, but who don't dare to go inside now that Cid has gutted their leader, it hurts to hear him say something like that. Usually, he is fond of Cid, but sometimes... 

Well, loyalty is not a human trait. And neither are sympathies, obviously.

"You're angry at me," Vincent says matter-of-factly.

"Well, duh!" Cid turns to him and rolls his eyes. "I just really can't believe you, man! Who the hell goes out on a mission without taking a single potion with them? Or at least some Cure materia? Takes a special brand of stupid if you ask me."

"If I asked you, I would rather want to know why _you_ brought neither along, either."

And now, Cid flinches a little and has a look of remorse on his face, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Well, obviously I thought _you_ would have some of that stuff lying around hidden in that giant-ass cape of yours," he says, but his words lack any kind of bite now, and finally he sighs and settles down on the floor next to Vincent. "Sorry man, I shouldn't have gone off like that."

"You were angry." It's no excuse. It's not him accepting the apology. It's merely him stating yet another fact.

"Yeah, but that's my secret, monster boy. I'm always angry." Cid laughs, a short bark of a sound, then sighs again and slumps his shoulders. "I'm always so fucking angry, it's not even funny." He looks at Vincent out of the corner of his eye. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Not be angry all the time." Cid takes a new cigarette out of the packet, lights it, flicks the stub of the old one away. "You know, you should be. Shinra fucked you over majorly."

"Hmm." Vincent remains silent for a long time and averts his eyes. With careful fingertips he touches the wound on his upper arm, narrowing his eyes at the short jolt of pain running through his body. He must surely look ridiculous, with the scrap of Cid's shirt which he has hastily cut off with his spear and then wrapped around Vincent's arm. A shred of dark blue fabric, which stands out so strikingly against the black leather, now more than ever, as it is drenched in blood. "I try not to be," he then says quietly as if to answer all the questions.

Another barked laugh. "You make it sounds so easy."

It's not. It's not easy at all. There is so much anger bubbling underneath the surface of Vincent's very being, anger at what Shinra has done to him, what _Hojo_ has done to him. All those crimes committed against him and Lucrecia and ... and even against Sephiroth. Vincent can almost understand him, the strange crazed man with the urge to destroy the world in order to rebuild it at his whim. 

... they are very similar. They both had a fate forced upon them that they never wanted. They both have so much _foreign_ in them, and yet ... as Sephiroth lets himself be guided by the alien being in his mind and heart and the very cells of his body, Vincent tries to suppress and banish all that is not himself. 

There is so much anger in him, and most of it isn't even his own. It belongs to all the beings who cannot rest in peace because Hojo ... Well .. what exactly has Hojo done to them? Is it their souls that remain trapped in him, their lives, their hatred and their rage? Sometimes he thinks about it, at night, when he tries to sleep, and the quiet rumble of their anger threatens to grow inside him, and it takes all his effort to keep it in check.

There have been many, far too many sleepless nights because of it. 

" -cent? Hey, Vincent!"

He jolts out of his thoughts and blinks, then shakes his head slowly to dispel even the last remaining thoughts of sleepless nights and unbridled rage, and finally turns to face Cid with a questioning glance. "What?"

"So you didn't even listen." Cid crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Rude."

Vincent looks at him for a moment, considers whether to ask him to repeat his words, but then decides against it. Sometimes Cid is just like that. Angry and quick-tempered and maybe a little attention-seeking, even though he would never admit that, of course. A thought comes to his mind, one that makes him smile.

"What's so funny?"

"You."

Cid scoffs quietly and flips him the bird. "As I said, rude."

"I'm just adjusting to my company."

Now Cid first lifts one of his brows, then the other one, studying Vincent's face for a few long moments, as if trying to look at his soul. 

Somehow Vincent is eager and curious to see if he can find one.

"Did you just really crack a joke? Wow, can't believe you're almost behaving like a normal human for once." And here comes cigarette number three. It almost impresses Vincent how fast and how much the man can smoke in such a short period of time. But only almost. "Anyway, as I just said-"

They are interrupted by a throaty, wet roar as one of the monsters, a kind of wolf with far too many teeth and claws, ventures into the interior of the cave to pounce on them, slavering all over the place.

It doesn't get far, because while Cid is still cursing and hastily getting to his feet, Vincent has already grabbed his gun and shot at the animal. The bullets hit it below the throat, almost tearing the creature to shreds, and with a last sound it topples over to its side during its jump. 

"... good reflexes," says Cid and brushes some imaginary dust off his pants.

"As you just said."

"Huh?"

Vincent looks up at him and again a smile sneaks up on his lips. "As you just said," he simply repeats, watching Cid's face change from confusion to understanding, and then he rolls his eyes and utters an almost annoyed sound.

"You're _awful_ today, you know that?" he asks and puts a hand in the pocket of his pants. "Did they put something in the water this morning?" When Vincent doesn't answer him, Cid pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and starts typing with growing frustration. "No, really, care to tell me what was so funny earlier?"

"You remind me of myself when I was your age."

Now Cid looks up at him, with his mouth slightly ajar and Vincent almost fears that his cigarette will drop from between his lips. But then Cid rolls his eyes again and scoffs once more. "Sure, you're a grandpa. You're such an old fart you don't even have a phone and poor little me has to try to contact the others to get us out of here." He stares at the screen with narrowed eyes, then holds the phone to his ear, pointing an accusing finger at Vincent. "For the record, I'm gonna blame you for this mess."

Vincent thinks he can live with that. Carefully he touches the wound on his arm again and notices that it has stopped bleeding. That's something. While he listens to Cid shouting into the phone ("Yes, I _know_ it was stupid" and "Stop laughing" and "Are you gonna get us or not?", not a word about Vincent being guilty of anything, which makes him smile), he continues to watch the cave entrance.

Outside, more and more of the monsters gather. They stare into the cave with bloodshot eyes, probably only prevented from entering like a flood of bodies and claws and teeth by the sight of their dead comrade and their equally dead, if already a little bit gnawed-off leader. But they sound hungry, impatient. And soon night will fall.

He can't imagine that they can take them all down, not without help. Again he looks up at Cid, wondering if he knows this or at least suspects it, if that's why he sounds so stressed and so restlessly pacing up and down in the cave. 

In reverse, Cid probably asks himself the exact opposite, wondering why Vincent is so calm, why he doesn't freak out or get upset. The answer would be ... he doesn't really know that himself. Maybe because everything else inside him isn't angry. Not right now, to his own surprise. The beasts inside him are itching for a fight while Vincent would rather want to avoid it at all. 

He throws another glance towards the entrance of the cave and braces himself. Where he had just counted twenty pairs of eyes, the number has already doubled.

They're getting ready. 

"They're coming," Cid says and positions himself next to him, arms crossed in front of his chest. "But it'll take a bit. Apparently our good friend Ultima Weapon thinks it's fun to chase the Highwind instead of the other way around for a change."

"I hope they'll be fine."

"I'm sure they will be, I'm more worried about our own asses here." Vincent senses Cid's piercing gaze on him, and shortly afterwards the next cigarette butt lands on the ground beside him. "Why don't you just go all out and grow some fangs and fifty more pounds of muscle? That'd be helpful."

"... I can't. I think. I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" His voice sounds raspy from the smoke and thick with confusion, and Vincent sighs and slowly gets to his feet again, now that his wound stopped bleeding and the accompanying dizziness has lessened.

"It's not ... a conscious decision, Cid," he says and takes his gun out of his belt, counting how many rounds he has left in the chamber in case the fight should come - a total of five. Plus the bullets he has in reserve, but even then it's twenty at most. That would be just enough to take out maybe half of their attackers, assuming, of course, that they give him the time and kindly remain standing still while he takes care of knocking out their lamps. "Maybe when we fight I'll be overwhelmed with blood lust. Maybe I won't be. We can't count on it." 

Cid looks at him silently for a moment and puffs on his cigarette. "So we gotta hope the little doggy inside you wants to come out and play fetch. Great. This is just ... fucking great." He tosses his arms in the air and kicks a pebble that lies at his feet far away from him, before he thoughtfully rubs his chin with one hand and squints his eyes together as if he had an idea. "I'm honestly considering to just blow the entry up and lock us inside until the others arrive."

"And then rocks fall, we die. I wouldn't risk it."

"Any better ideas, smartass?"

"We could run." At Cid's questioning glance, he shrugs his shoulders. "We're both fast. If we have the element of surprise on our side ..."

"Yeah, cute, but where should we go to? If you haven't noticed, this little shithole of an island is in the middle of the ocean, and outside is nothing but maybe twenty square meters of dirt." Cid scratches his cheek and stares at the entrance of the cave, shaking his head. "Shit, I have no idea why there are so many of those things anyway, how do they survive?"

"Maybe they usually kill each other."

"So I'm gonna get eaten by cannibalistic murder wolves that wanna try out some new kind of snack. I feel flattered."

"Or maybe they're aquatic."

"Huh?"

Vincent sighs and puts the gun back on his belt. "Maybe they can _swim_ , Cid. Maybe they saw the Chocobo crossing the water and went after it. That would explain why it ran away."

Now Cid raises his index finger and waves it a little bit in Vincent's direction. "You know what? This is all Cloud's fault."

"I think we already established that it's not in a Chocobo's nature to just stay calm when enemies are nearby. It got scared and ran."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what-"

"I _meant_ that if we survive, I will punch Cloud in the face for sending us to this place even though here's not even anything useful to find. So much for rare materia."

Hm. Well... It's true that it's weird. In the other caves they only reached with effort and good luck or reckless actions, they always found something of value. Something that could help them in battle. Which of course is only logical, because the very places nobody can easily reach are the ones where Mako can grow in its purest form and form strong, natural materia. "Maybe we should check again?"

So they do. Because they have nothing better to do. Or maybe it's because they're looking for a way to save their necks. 

So while Cid scans the walls for thin, unnoticed cracks, Vincent keeps his eyes peeled on the ground, rummaging through fallen leaves and clay and dirt. 

With every minute that passes, it slowly gets darker in the cave, and their motivation decreases, possibly just like their courage. 

Cid sighs softly and shakes his head, uttering a curse that lacks bite. "Yeah, I think we're fucked," he says and reaches for his spear. "And no sign of our little bunch of rascal friends. Better get ready to slay some assholes."

"Mmm," is Vincent's monosyllabic response. His fingers wrap around the handle of his gun and he is already turning back towards the entrance of the cave when the fading sunlight meets something on the floor, making it glow, reflecting the light. Vincent blinks. "Hey, Cid, could that be ... " he begins and already hears Cid's footsteps approaching. Slowly he looks up.

In the dying sunlight shadows seem to dance in every corner of the cave, creeping around them in almost ordinate circles. It's almost as if there is a current in the air, a static noise at the back of his mind. 

From out of the corners of his eyes, he spots a flash of silver teeth, and before either of them can react the sound of ripping cloth and flesh resounds and the expression on Cid's face changes from mild curiosity to sudden shock. 

His heart beats faster.

Almost like in slow motion the cigarette slides from between Cid's lips and falls to the ground.

His pulse is ringing in his ears.

There is blood everywhere.

His fingers twitch, and there is a roar that spills over his lips, one that comes from very deep inside of him, from a part he doesn't ever dare to awaken. 

Cid drops to the ground, and Vincent sees nothing but red. His body feels numb, nothing of the excruciating pain he usually feels when his bones break and twist and put themselves together in order to arrange a completely new shape and form.

Before he even notices it, his face has distorted into a ferocious grimace, and he sinks his strong, sharp teeth into the body of the monster that has just attacked Cid.

"... heh. Didn't know you cared _that_ much about me," he hears Cid's weak voice as if from far away, but the words no longer make sense, for now he's only concerned with defending what's part of his pack.

They go down, one by one, succumbing to his teeth and claws and the sheer _force_ behind his attacks as he rips them apart with no regards to the marks and wounds they leave on his skin. 

And yet, they flood into the cave like drops of water in a tsunami, crushing him with their weight, biting and clawing at him, until his own blood obscures his view and the howling noise coming from his throat is no longer only filled with his anger, the one that resounds with all the beasts inside his very being, but also with pain.

His attacks become weaker, slower, missing what he would otherwise be supposed to hit. His breath goes shallow and fast, his mind blank except for the pain.

He won't be able to... 

He has to... 

He can't... 

He is sorry... 

And as his legs give out and he hears the triumphant growl of the beast closest to him, he knows they will both die here.

It's coming closer, teeth bared, and taking a leap -

\- only to be split in two by a powerful, almost human being with a sword.

_A summon?_

Others follow, beings in armour, armed with swords, axes and spells, and as Vincent turns his wounded head in the direction they come from, he can see Cid's pale face, as he is still lying on the ground, holding a red materia clenched in a trembling hand.

And then everything around him turns black and he has no choice but to hope that it will be enough to keep the beasts at bay until the rest of his pack arrives.

_

  
When he wakes up some time later, it is at the infirmary of the Highwind, with an aching skull and equally hurting limbs. Slowly he sits up and palms at his upper body to see if everything is still where it should be.

"About time you woke up," he suddenly hears a voice from next to him. Vincent flinches and turns his gaze in the direction it came from, seeing Cid sitting at the edge of his bed and grinning tiredly. "Rise and shine, darling."

He blinks in confusion, once, twice, then shakes his head. "I'm glad to see you're okay."

"Yeah." Cid rubs his palm across one of his upper arms. "Seems like the others arrived like twenty seconds after we passed out, so yay for us. Not that I didn't feel totally flattered by your little horror show performance, though."

Vincent grimaces.

"No, really," Cid says quickly. "You know, I gotta admit it was actually-"

"Completely and utterly horrifying?" Vincent suggests.

"- totally hot," Cid says at the same time.

For a moment it's quiet between them. Then, "What the fuck, Cid?"

Cid shrugs his shoulders and rubs his chin in embarrassment. "Look, what were you expecting? That we all think you're an awful human abomination and that we're pissing ourselves whenever we look at you or whatever?"

"Well, actually, yes, kind of?"

"Really?" Now it's Cid who looks at him in bewilderment and then bursts out laughing. His fingers twitch in the direction of the pocket of his jacket as if he was looking for cigarettes and a lighter, but of course smoking is forbidden in the infirmary. He sighs and casts a glance at Vincent from the side. "Come on, man, look me in the eye and tell me Tifa is afraid of anything that's not losing Cloud. Tell me _Barret_ is."

"I ... I thought ..."

"And that's your first mistake right there, monster boy." Cid smiles at him and punches him in the shoulder. "We're your _friends_ , you idiot. I mean, you were still a dumb fuck not to have brought some potions along even thought you knew you were paired with dumb fuck number two, but we're still friends. Okay?"

He sighs softly, but can't help but smile a little. "... okay," he finally says. "I think that's okay."

"Good. Very good." Cid looks at him from the side again. "And, while we're at it, can I repeat that watching you rip those things apart to save my ass really _was_ hot as fuck?"

"Cid."

"Look, I'm just a guy, I have urges, and if I wasn't in the middle of almost-dying thank to losing so much blood, I would have popped the biggest-

" _Cid_."

He laughs and pats him on the back. "Sorry. Sorry, man," he says without sounding apologetic at all. "Just think it's funny riling you up. But you know-" Now he gets serious again, even clears his throat a little bit. "Maybe I'm ... maybe we should ... talk about that? Later? After we saved the world and all that shit? Drinks would be on me?"

Vincent remains silent and looks at Cid at length and extensively. He is so different from Lucrecia, different from most people he has met. Loud. Obnoxious. With a horrible temper. Arguing all the time about the smallest of things. ... able to make Vincent smile. Apparently someone Vincent would, at least subconsciously, want to protect with his life.

... well.

Cid still looks at him, but the grin on his lips is slightly frozen and his gaze is now more uncertain, almost a little worried.

"Okay," Vincent finally says. "Let's talk about this. Later. About us. Whatever that might be."

And when they come out of the infirmary a few minutes later and walk back to the bridge to tell the others they're feeling better and absolutely ready to finish the whole thing, Cid's pace is light and upbeat. 

And even Vincent feels a little more at ease than he has for a long time.


End file.
